UT Facilities Services Manages the Big Orange Cleanup

As one can imagine, much effort goes into cleaning the UT campus and Neyland Stadium after a home football game.

Much of the work performed by Facilities Services occurs before the games begin. The restrooms and skyboxes are stocked, the carpets are shampooed, and the stadium is prepared.

Facilities Services staffs the stadium during games to ensure overall cleanliness and properly functioning restrooms.

When the game ends, a crew stationed outside the stadium pulls garbage from the recycling bins and out of the skyboxes. They separate the materials into recyclable and nonrecyclable materials, they move it out, and then they turn off the lights and lock down the stadium.

The morning after

The cleaning of Neyland Stadium is contracted out to Leroy Penson of National Cleaning Services in Maryville. His crew cleans the corridors, outside seating, tunnels, outside restrooms, and access ramps. The total cleanup occurs primarily on Sunday, but can continue on until Wednesday, depending on the weather.

Facilities Services supports the work of the cleaning crew by providing the cleaning materials, trash bags, restroom supplies, blowers, and other materials as needed.

The grounds crew members clean the parking lots, garages, and landscaped surroundings to remove any remaining garbage. The thirty-five-member crew performs the cleanup in about eight hours.

The recycling team collects some recyclable material on Sunday, but much of their work occurs during the game. They place separate bags for recycling and garbage pickup to tailgaters in the parking lots, and while the game is being played, the recyclable-items bags are collected. Even during games with a smaller attendance, the recycling team can collect as much as 4,000 pounds of bottles, cans, compost, and cardboard from tailgaters.

But on other days, it’s much more. For the Florida game, more than 12.3 tons of garbage was recycled by only twenty volunteers.